For their second Sullivan performance, Lettuce wasted no time getting the crowd grooving with tunes from their new release, RAGE!. Paying homage to all stripes of funksters including Parliament / Funkadelic, James Brown, Sly Stone, Herbie Hancock, and Earth Wind & Fire, Lettuce proved- to the delight of the crowd- that funk is alive and well.
P.B.S. (Porter, Batiste, Stoltz) is finally getting the opportunity to cool their heels a bit after an extended West coast tour that took them to cities large and small. Along the way in Portland Oregon, Glide had the opportunity to sit down with George Porter Jr., Russell Batiste Jr., and Brian Stoltz to talk about the rigors and realities of life on the road, the inspirational process of creating music together, and George Porter Jr.’s obsession with the internet.
Having just released a brand new album, the children’s themed “Let’s Go Everywhere”, it would be easy to think Medeski, Martin and Wood would be playing the Chuck E. Cheese circuit. Instead, this ever-evolving three- piece is focusing its energy on the ambitious goal of rewriting the “traditional” rules of touring.
The Duo should not be judged by their album outputs, they are first and foremost a live act. Their performance at Higher Ground, although not one of their “epic” shows, was surely another whirlwind of unclassifiable rock and jazz that proved they are one of today’s elite instrumental rock units going.
With their 11/2/07 performance at the Music Hall of Williamsburg—which used to be the hipster haunt Northsix, but was bought by the Bowery crew and transformed into one of the most promising new venues in New York City—Lotus demonstrated yet again their commitment to continued growth and developmen
Producer Aaron Levinson and Ropeadope Records founder Andy Hurwitz return with another genre-bending musical tribute to a specific cultural breeding ground. But unlike Philadelphia Experiment and Detroit Experiment, this one spotlights a single neighborhood, Harlem, one of the most artistically fertile areas in the country. Structured as an imaginary AM radio transmission, “hosted” by Harlem DJ muMs—and featuring a talented house band—Harlem Experiment weaves an aural tapestry of funk, blues, jazz, salsa, hip-hop and beyond.
his Meets That is as guitarist John Scofield describes, “real jazz music,” and he’s not exaggerating. With so many albums being tagged with some variation of the jazz label (acid, free, smooth), it is refreshing to hear an album that recalls the classic jazz greats: Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, and Chet Baker.
On their third studio album, Mr. Patterson’s Hat (the title is a tribute to a local auto mechanic who haunts the local bars and music venues), Papa Grows Funk mostly does it right, displaying great respect for the musical traditions of the Crescent City, from funk to blues to R&B to jazz and beyond.
For No Place Like Soul, Soulive not only changed record companies, but the band’s approach to creating music went under complete renovation.
Jacob Fred are on top of their game, a group that just keeps developing into new, refreshing directions while always paying tribute to the jazz masters. Fittingly Hass reminded the audience near the end of the set to remember to, “listen to a little jazz everyday.”
